An Eclectic Journal of Opinion, History, Poetry and General Bloviating

Saturday, September 8, 2012

It’s a Geek Holy Day!

All dressed up in their pajamas and ready to go "Where no man has gone before."

For many today is a red letter holy day.I am talking about the universe
of dedicated nerds and geeks who are taping their glasses frames back together
today to settle in for a marathon viewing of the original Star Trek series which made its debut on NBC Television on September 8, 1966.

Writer/ProducerGene Roddenberry had pitched the science
fiction series to Desilu Studios as “Wagon Train in space,” referring to a perennially popular
network western in which the wagon master, scout and other regulars interacted
with new people and situations each week as it made its way west.And when you think about it, it was as good a
description of the basic plot and plan as any.

Roddenberry
was born in Texas in 1921.His
father was a police officer.The family
relocated to Los Angeles while he was young and where he attended public
school planning to follow in his father’s footsteps.He took classes in police science at Los
Angeles City College and went on with his education hopping from Columbia
University, to the University of Miami, and the University of
Southern California all without ever obtaining a degree.

Along the
way he picked up a fascination with aviation and obtained a pilot’s
license.With the outbreak of World
War II he enlisted in the Army Air Corps where he became a B-17 pilot
in the Pacific Theater.He
survived one crash, flew 89 combat missions, and was awarded both the Distinguished
Flying Cross and the Air Medal before leaving the service in
1945.After the war he joined Pan Am
World Airlines as a commercial pilot.He earned high praise for his rescue efforts after his plane crashed in
the Syrian desert in 1947.

While
flying he developed an interest in writing.In 1949 he resigned from the airline to take up his long abandoned
career as officer with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) both
so he could stay home with his wife and family and to be close to Hollywood
where he hoped to sell his scripts.Roddenberry rose to sergeant of patrol by 1953.He used his knowledge of police work to
peddle scripts the Broderick Crawford’s syndicatedprogram Highway Patrolusing a pseudonym to avoid complaints from the
force.He also contributed scripts to Richard
Boone’s classic Have Gun Will
Travel.

In 1957
Roddenberry took a leap of faith and quit the police force to concentrate on
writing full time.He became a
moderately successful member of the legion of freelance script
writers.Dissatisfied with not having
control of his own career, he took another chance to become a producer,
pitching series ideas to the networks.After one failed development he sold The Lieutenant, a drama about the peace time Marine Corps
starring Garry Lockwood and Robert Vaughn.The series was a critical success and a
moderate hit for NBC but was cancelled after one season because the
escalating Vietnam War made the lead characters’ fate uncertain.Also Vaughn wanted out to take a role in the
upcoming The Man From Uncle.

Desilu
green-lighted Roddenberry’s pitch for his proposed space adventure and a pilot
was made starring Jeffrey Hunter asStarshipEnterprise
Captain Christopher Pike and Lenard Nimoy as his alien second in
command.The pilot went way over budget
and was rejected by the studio.A second
pilot was made with Roddenberry on a tight budget leash and William Shatner
as Captain James T. Kirk.NBC picked
up the series for its fall 1966 season.In later episodes there would be references to Captain Pike, a doomed
former commander of the starship.

The Space
Race with the Soviet Union and the exploits of Mercury and Gemini
astronauts helped whet the public appetite for a series set far in the
future when intergalactic travel was possible and a powerful but benign United
Federation of Planets could afford to let one of their prized starships go
on a five year voyage to “boldly go where no man has gone before.”

Despite
somewhat cheesy sets and costumes and special effects not much more advanced
than the days of Buck Rogers serials, the show quickly developed a
devoted, but small audience.Key was the
three way chemistry between the swashbuckling, decisive Captain Kirk; Spock
the half alien science officer whose dominant Vulcan heritage relies on
cold logic and suppressed emotion; and Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy played
by Deforest Kelly, a former country doctor who wears his sympathies on
his sleeve and lets emotion rule.

Although
the Enterprise served a multi-species
planetary federation, the rest of the deck officers and most of the crew were Terrestrials
notable for their multi-ethnicity.African
American Communications OfficerUhura was the woman on deck
portrayed by Nichelle Nichols; Helmsman Hikaru Sulu played by George
Takei;and Walter Koenig as Navigator Pavel Chekov.The ships mysterious warp drive engines
were in the capable hands of Chief Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott
portrayed by James Dugan.The
crew was meant to be living testimony that the ugly history of national
conflict on Earth, which had once nearly resulted in the planet’s
destruction, could be overcome by goodwill and different people could work
together.

The
none-too-subtle message was all part of Roddenberry’s plan.Although he sold the studio “wagon train in
space,” he told friends he really wanted to make a version of Gulliver’s Travels with picaresque
adventure masking little morality plays.Episodes of the series took on all of the issues of the day—racism,
authoritarianism, conflicts like Vietnamand those involving planetary
destruction, environmental catastrophe, class warfare, feminism, and crime—all
seen through Roddenberry’s notablyliberal
philosophy.He often expressed
gratitude that network censors, busy looking for sex, missed the symbolism
obvious to everyone one else.

NBC nearly
cancelled the series after the first year, but an unprecedented letter writing
campaign saved it.It was however, moved
to Friday nights, the “death spot” because it was the least watched night of
the week.The shift was especially hard
for the core audience, which skewed younger and male, some of whom might
actually be out on Friday doing other things.The budget, never high, was also cut back.Nielson rationings remained low and
the series was canceled after its third season.Subsequent examination of data, however showed that the program was a
hit with what became the most desired of all network demographics, 18-30
year olds.

Star Trek became a phenomenon when it went into syndication in 1969.It has not been off the air or on cable
since.Devoted fans could see and re-see
each episode until they had memorized all of the details and immersed
themselves in the Star Trek universe.

The
success of the series in re-runs sparked one of the most successful motion
picture franchises in history with the original cast members reprising their
roles, a Saturday morning animated series, and four more syndicated series—Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Next Generation, Star Trek:
Voyager, and Star Trek:
Enterprise.In addition there
have been countless novels—some by Shatner—fan fiction, comic books, and
merchandising of every sort.Star Trek conventions have become a
cultural phenomena and Treckies—or Treckers as they prefer to be
called—a recognizable sub-culture.

And it continues.The 2009 film Star Trek “rebooted” the
franchise into an alternative time line with the major characters from the
series re-uniting in Star Fleet Academy.The film was a summer block buster and two
more are planned in the alternate universe.

Creator Roddenberry oversaw most of
this until his death on October 21, 1994 at the age of 70.At his family’s request his ashes were later
launched into space.